


at your best you are love

by leighbot



Series: thinkin bout forever [3]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - America, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Frat Boy Liam, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 17:50:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14857380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leighbot/pseuds/leighbot
Summary: “I’ve been thinking about cutting my hair for the summer,” Zayn says, voice low over the sound of the ripples they’re making in the water.Just a quick coda to'til it turns from color to black and white





	at your best you are love

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been using June to clean out my drafts folder as a birth month gift to myself. This is day five! I've had this sitting for almost two years and decided to force it to a stopping point and post it out there. There's less smut than I originally intended (re: none) but I can finally stop looking at it and feeling stress! :)

They float around lazily, Zayn claiming his favorite intertube quickly and letting his eyes close as his skin soaks up the sun’s warm rays. A heat wave has hung around the area for nearly a week, the temperature high and humidity strong. It forces Liam’s hair into a near-constant curl, and Zayn’s taken to pushing his own too-long black strands into a low bun to keep it off of his neck.

“I’ve been thinking about cutting my hair for the summer,” Zayn says, voice low over the sound of the ripples they’re making in the water. “Like my undercut but keeping the top long.”

He hears Liam swim closer and he tilts his head, raising his hand to shade his eyes. Droplets of chlorine water cling to the thick hair covering his sternum. Zayn’s dick twitches in his shorts and he licks his lips. Liam doesn’t seem to notice.

“Shave the sides completely?”

Zayn nods, tilting his head into Liam’s hand when he lifts it from the water to edge his fingers along Zayn’s hair. “What do you think?” Zayn asks.

“I think you’d look tough.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhm, like a little badass. Bye-bye to my innocent freshie boyfriend.”

Zayn laughs, lifting his arms and slipping from his float. Liam’s arms wind around his waist under the water, pulling him close. Zayn feels Liam’s chubbed up cock against his through their swim shorts and he lets the water buoy him as he wraps his legs around Liam’s hips.

He wraps his dripping arms behind Liam’s neck, leaning in for a sweet, quick kiss.

“Speaking of haircuts,” Liam says when Zayn pulls back, resting their foreheads together.

“Nope,” Zayn says immediately, shifting and accidentally digging his elbow into the meat of Liam’s shoulder to run his fingers through Liam’s baby curls.

Liam ducks his shoulder, grunting. “I wasn’t going to cut it, monster, now get your pokey elbows away from me.”

“Sorry,” Zayn says, though the smile on his face belies his statement. He brings his arm down between them, keeping a springy curl pinched between his thumb and forefinger. “Don’t cut your hair.”

“I won’t,” Liam huffs, shifting Zayn in his arms, most of his weight held by the water. “I was talking about my beard.”

Zayn pouts, leaning in to kiss the bristles. He’s grown used to waking up to patches on beard burn on his thighs, belly and neck. “I’ll miss it a little.”

“It’ll grow back. But I bought a shaving kit: a razor and brush. I was hoping you would show me how to wet shave. The right way.”

Zayn squirms out of Liam’s arms, feet touching the bottom as he wades to the edge and pulls himself out. “Let’s go, then,” he says, looking over his shoulder to find Liam stationary. “Hurry up.”

Liam splashes out of the water right behind him as Zayn towels off, kicking off his swim shorts and patting his boxer briefs dry. His trunks can dry in the sun, he decides. “You were just complaining about me wanting to shave but now you’re impatient.”

“C’mon,” Zayn says, heading inside and otherwise ignoring his statements.

“Are you guys going to fuck in the bathroom?” Harry asks as Zayn passes through.

“I’m not going to lie to you,” Zayn starts, but then Harry covers his ears and closes his eyes.

“I’m just going out to dinner. Should I pick up anything for you? Need to keep your strength up at the rate you two are going.”

Liam cuts in then, having caught up to Zayn in the brief exchange with Harry. “We’re young, we’ll probably be okay. But I’ll take a burger if you’re offering.”

Zayn rolls his eyes, grabbing Liam’s hands and tugging him into the bathroom. He presses Liam against the wall, wanting to feel the way Liam’s scruff pulls at his own one last time before he’ll be clean-shaven and baby-smooth.

When he finally pulls back, both of them are breathing a bit heavy. “Get in the shower,” he tells Liam.

“What?”

“It’ll soften your scruff and open your pores. Take a warm shower and presoak your brush in hot water in the shaving mug.”

Liam follows instruction right away, starting the shower and then running the tap at the sink until he can fill the mug with hot water. He taps the end of the brush to make sure it’s completely submerged before dropping his boxers and stepping in the shower.

“You’re not coming in?” Liam asks over the sound of the water hitting the tiles, but Zayn can still hear the pout in his voice.

“I don’t think either of us will think about shaving if we’re both in there together,” Zayn says back, lifting himself onto the counter and organizing what they’ll need. He keeps the mug in a safe spot far from the edge, close to the place of honor it’s occupied since Zayn gave it to Liam a few days before. Louis and Niall, the only two who use the bathroom with any regularity, have both been informed of the mug’s significance, and the other brothers have been warned away from it.

Zayn had stood behind Liam during the house meeting that was called, trying to bite down on a laugh when he realized Liam was vehemently threatening loss of microwave and pool table access to anyone who touched it, two random but both surprisingly popular punishments in the house. None of the brothers had seemed offended, probably used to random demands by each other.

He fingers the familiar chips on the rim, tracing the pattern in a self-soothing circles as Liam finishes quickly. Zayn lets his gaze rake along Liam’s body possessively when he steps out onto the floor mat, toweling off his chest and belly. He runs it through his hair once before knotting the towel around his waist.

Zayn spreads his thighs and motions for Liam to step up between them. He teases his index finger along the soft, hydrated hair of Liam’s beard. “Goodbye, my friend,” he says dramatically.

Liam rolls his eyes.

Zayn gets down to business quickly, showing Liam how much water the brush retains even after emptying the mug and flicking off the excess. He lets Liam open the shaving soap he’d purchased and shows him how to coat the brush.

“Go ahead and put it away,” Zayn says.

“That’s going to be enough?” Liam asks.

“Plenty,” Zayn assures him. When the soap is away and Liam’s facing him again, Zayn shows him how to press the bristles of the brush against the inside of the mug. “Don’t push too hard. Just start making, like, a whisking motion. The lather will build itself up.”

Liam looks a little dubious, but he listens anyway. Zayn coaxes him through building the lather, reining him in when Liam has a bit too much fun with it and his lather starts foaming loose. “Like cool whip,” Zayn says. “Get it like cool whip.”

When he’s ready and there’s enough to do several passes if needed, Zayn stops him and takes the brush. “I want to do this part,” he says. He avoids Liam’s gaze as he brushes the lather onto his scruff, using smooth, even strokes to cover everything thickly and evenly. He finally looks into his brown eyes as he sets the mug and brush to the side, grabbing the new safety razor. “Do you trust me?”

Liam glances over Zayn’s shoulder into the mirror above the sink, ignoring the question. “I look a bit like Santa.”

Zayn hums in agreement. “I can make a joke about sitting on your lap,” Zayn responds, his stomach tight when Liam looks back at him.

“Maybe later,” is all he says in answer, but Zayn feels his thighs spread wider around Liam’s hips as he steps just a hint closer.

He keeps his breath steady as he brings the razor up to Liam’s cheek, pulling the blade across his skin instead of pushing it. He clears one side and then the other, giggling when Liam puff his cheeks full of air for Zayn to clear his mustache and goatee lines.

He tests the closeness of the shave with the back of his hand. “I’m going to do one more,” he says, grabbing the brush and pressing a thinner layer.

Liam’s eyes are dark, pupils blown and nostrils flaring as Zayn pulls away lather in even, gentle strokes. He can see the perfectly smooth skin he’s leaving behind, and he finishes carefully. All told, it’s only about ten minutes since Liam left the shower stall, but the air has been thick and heavy for every single second. Zayn pushes Liam away impatiently once he’s finally cleared the last of the hair around Liam’s Adam’s apple with the gentlest pass he could manage.

“Clean the brush with warm water then hang it to dry. I’m going to shower and I’ll meet you in bed.”

Liam grabs his hand and drags him in for a kiss first. The fingers of Zayn’s free hand stroke along his whisker-free jawline, groaning as the kiss turns open-mouthed and messy quickly.

“Go,” Liam says after a moment, his voice deep and gruff.

Zayn steps into the shower stall before turning on the water, the spray cool for only a second before it finds the heat left from Liam’s quick rinse. He washes up quickly, keeping his hair in its bun to keep it from getting too wet. He’s focused on rinsing away the chlorine from the pool, mainly, but he lets his hand drift down to tease at his hole, slipping the tip of his index finger in.

“I can see you,” Liam says, calling out over the sound. The water hitting the shower wall is loud in Zayn’s ear.

“I’m aware,” he says back, feeling sassy.

He hears Liam grumble something in response before leaving the bathroom. Zayn smiles and lets his finger slip away. He picks up Liam’s body wash from the corner rack and soaps up with it, rinsing quickly before turning off the water. He grabs his towel from its designated hook, patting his face and chest dry before knotting it around his waist and heading out of the bathroom to the bedroom.

The lights are on and sheets tugged to the foot of the bed. There are two cups of white wine on the bedside table, the one that Zayn likes judging from the discarded, empty bottle in the trash can. “Oh, boy,” Zayn says with a sigh as he drops the towel and crawls across the mattress to hover over Liam’s lap where he’s sat with his back to the headboard. “Wine?”

“We had it leftover,” Liam excuses, lifting one of the stemless glasses Harry _swears_ are wine glasses but Zayn thinks are just regular cups. Not that he cares, it tastes the same anyway, and he confirms it with a long sip.  “What do you want?” Liam asks, not touching his own drink.

“You to stay,” Zayn says, taking another drink so he doesn’t have to meet Liam’s eye.

“Baby…”

“I know, I know,” Zayn interrupts quickly. He sets his glass to the side and forces himself to look up. “You have to start working in the factory to pay off your student loan. I just… I’m going to miss you.” Zayn’s decidedly _not_ proud of the way his voice gets really small at the end.

Liam’s bushy brows are furrowed tight together and his lips part. “I’m staying here,” he says.

“What?”

“I’m taking grad classes her next semester. I told you that.”

“No you didn’t!” Zayn exclaims, tightening his thighs either side of Liam’s own and pushing Liam back further so Zayn can really study his face. “You never said!”

“I swear I told you. Maybe you just forgot.”

“Liam James -”

Liam starts laughing, his faux-concerned expression disappearing as his giggles brighten his face. “Okay, okay! Only my mom calls me that, come on. I was going to surprise you this weekend.”

“You liar!” Zayn says, pinching at Liam’s chest. He doesn’t go for the nipples just yet but he’s half a mind to do so. “Why didn’t you tell me right away?”

“Was gonna show you the house I’m buying.”

Zayn’s quiet.

“It’s nothing fancy,” Liam continues quickly. “It’s just… it’s about forty five minutes out. My classes are Tuesday and Wednesday so I won’t be driving too much and you can come stay for the weekends if you want or you can even just, you know… you could move in with me and we’ll figure out how to get you to school and what days you have class and… and I’m buying a house for me but for you, too, if you want to come by. Or stay or like, live with me.”

“Liam…”

“It’s too much, right? Oh, god, I didn’t want to freak you out again after the whole pinning fiasco.”

“ _Liam_ …”

“I’m sorry, just forget I said it, just, let’s go back to tonight, do you want to have sex? Let’s have sex, come on, just-”

Zayn swoops in to capture Liam’s mouth, realizing quickly that nothing else is going to get him quiet. Liam pants out, already out of breath from his spiel, and Zayn takes the opportunity to slow him down.

“I would love to live with you, _Leeyum_ ,” he says, kissing up his cheek and across his forehead. “When can we see the house?”

“I was going this weekend to sign the last of the paperwork and the current owners were going to show me. Did you want to come with?”

Zayn snorts. “Yes, please,” he says, kissing Liam’s lips again. “Please, please, and please.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
